Sup Grass citizens, my plants have been under 24 hrs for a little over a week from seed. my question is when is a good time to switch them to 18/6? I've heard once there on a normal feeding schedule but i planted them in FFOF which has enough nutes for 3 weeks...any input would be great thanks!
Yeah theres no reason to switch to 18/6 unless you have to. Some people do it after the first week if they need to have the lights off to allow lamps to cool or for stealth purposes. If you can keep your lights on 24h until flowering, then absolutely do it.
Those are the two primary choices for veg cycle. There are proponents of each, but not really much argument about sticking to the one you like throughout vegging.
Thanks guys, much appreciated on the input, sounds like I will be vegging them under 24 hrs then :] What are the differences and or pros and cons of both? Also, the leaves on my guys are scrunching up on the edges from what I believe to be heat stress because the humidity in my grow space gets up to 77 or even 80 some time during the early morning, the temp doesn't usually go over 80 for the maximum, for the most part it cruises at 72-77...I can't really control it unless i got a de humidifier with some kind of humidity reader that kicks it on when the humidity gets to high...have not put much thought into it...My question is, how will this affect my plants? I've seen leaves get warped and deformed and i don't want that to happen but in the long run will it make that much of a difference? I've seen good looking bud with the curled up leaves, there are pictures in my grow journal of some curling on one of the babies. Thanks again!
there is no wrong veg schedule.....24/0, 20/4, 18/6 etc. personally i perfer the 20/4 OFF, then they get some dark time.....ppl say it's not necessary but i happens in nature....so i figure why not.
Yea I hear ya, give the babies some nappy time....does the light being off in veg do anything? I know in flower it's necessary for bud development if I'm not mistaken. If the lights being off for a little would maybe help my problem with the high humidity in the early morning, if the lights not on then no heat and no heat stress :] If one does want to switch from 24 to 18/6 or 20/4 or something along those lines (which I've heard as long as its more then 12 then it wont flower) do you have to shock the plant with a certain amount of darkness, I heard something about doing that when you switch to 12/12...
not really just kill the light keep it off for number of hrs you decide on and keep it on that schedule....
Ok i looked at your setup and here are just a couple suggestions. Your light needs to be closer to your plants. They are stretching a ton and thats because your Floros need to be within 2-4" of the tops of the plants. Also the humidity is not too bad. Curled leaves are most often a result of overwatering. Make sure your only watering about once a week and make sure the top 2 inches of soil are dry before watering again. Your setup looks sweet but watering and lights are the 2 top things i think ppl struggle with at first. Nutes will come next but thats totally different.
Hey man, really good advice. I'll tell you what...I think I was on a pretty good track, then I started changing shit when I talked to the helpful lady at the grow store...but she said water them whenever they start to feel light, and thats what i've been doing, i water some every other day and some once a day, in Jorge Cervantes Ulti Grow video he said the curling was from the plant trying to release heat...could be a combination of both? But im definetely going to let them go a little longer without water and see if the problem persists, also i lowered my light to 2 inches from 3 away from the plant. They have showed some significant growth from the pictures in the journal, I will be posting some more soon. Going to see if i have some smaller containers maybe around a gallon, i dont want to throw em from 4 inch square pots to 5 gallons lol.
On my first grow i watered about the same you did. Not alot but i gave it a little every couple days. Its definately not from heat stress. Curling and yellowing will occur from heat but your plants would look more wilted and your temps are ideal so i would pretty much rule that out. The two other common explanations are watering like i said but also nitrogen over dosing. Providing your plants with too much nutrient can be seriously harmful if you dont watch it. When you first start out cut your nutrients in half. Instead of using 2 tsp use 1. Those recipes are formulated for maximum strength so weakening them up is recommended for apprentice growers. Its likely one of these is probably your problem. Cut it back and slowly increase it judging on how the plant responds. In either case too much water or nutrient can seriously injur or kill your plants. Wereas plants respond much better to drought and lack of ferts. Just some things to think about but im sure youll work it out eventually. These things are best learned through experience and trial and error anyways.
I agree, Many of these things I have come across, well put. As for nutrients, They won't be starting them until a week and a few days. I transplanted them into 1 and a half gal today. Also I put some bag seedlings under the HPS 400 watt on 18/6 just to see what happens, I know HPS is not the best for vegging but I heard it's ok. I haven't taken the time to fully understand light spectrums and how it effects the plant. Can someone tell me the downside to vegging with a High pressure sodium?
Light spectrums arent really that complex. At different stages in growth plants need different kinds of energy so we give them two different kinds of light. Metal Halide bulbs and CFLs at 6500K are best for vegging. They give off that white light and the blue spectrum waves that the plants need to grow. This kind of light is often referred to as "daylight". Flowering plants however use HPS or CFL's at 2700k. These give off red spectrum light and usually have a more reddish orange glowing bulb. Thats pretty much it but with lights you also have to worry about lumens and actual wattage and what not. That HPS is probably your best choice next to an MH because of its lumen output. This is basically the amount of llight the bulb actually gives off and thus the amount of energy actually there for the plant to absorb. It would take 16 26W CFL's to match the light wattage and lumen output of your HPS and thats almost as much as just buying an MH ballast. When using HID(HPS or MH) lighting though, make sure your ballast is far away from your plant. Nearly 2 feet is recommend at 400W. You will probably see more growth with it then your current CFL setup.
I currently have a t5 fluro for veg, the 4 plants fit snugly under there in 1 and a half gal containers the light is 4,000 lumens then for flower i have a 400watt hps
Without a doubt use the HPS. 4,000 lumens is barely anything to be honest. Thats like 4 household light bulb. Even though HPS is commonly used only for flowering, it will still give your plant some healthy veg growth(much more than your floros though lol). If you have the HPS though you really might consider just restarting your grow. Your still pretty early in but your plants have already stretched a ton and thats not good later on. When your plant gets its first leaves at 4" instead of 1 its incredibly top heavy and much more susceptible to a main stem break.
Ok grasscity's I challenge all of you to do controls on this subject! First you need to visit 2 of your local garden stores and document what they tell you! BUT FOR GOD SAKE DON'T DO WHAT THEY TELL! DO YOU THINK IF THESE INDIVIDUALS REALLY WERE ACTUALLY SKILLED CANNABIS CULTIVATORS THEY WOULD BE WORKING IN A HYDRO STORE FOR MINIMUM WAGE ? RIGHT AND MY OTHER LIFE I LEAVE IT AT HOME SO AS TO NOT DRAW TO MUCH PUBLIC ATTENTION I AM ACTUALLY INTERNATIONAL! LOL PLEASE!!! THE ONLY THING THESE INDIVIDUALS KNOW HOW TO GROW IS MORE IGNORANT! Ok Purchase a germination tray and plugs, cubes, etc from each store. Your medium needs to the same in both trays. Germinate your seeds and plant them in your medium, place both trays under your propagation lamps ON HEAT MATS WHATEVER OR YOU DO, NOW FOR TEST, FIRST YOU NEED TO “RELIGOUSLY†AT THER SAME TIME EVERY DAY COVER ONE OF THE TRAYS WITH A TOWL. TO BE FAIR IN YOUR COMPARISON YOU HAVE TO BE RELIGIOUS IN COVERING ONE OF THE TRAYS, THOSE OF THAT HAVE TWO SETS OF FLORES CAN GIVE EACH FLAT THERE OWN LIGHT RUN ONE 24 HOURS A DAY AND THE OTHER on a timer set for 18 ON 6 OFF CHECK THEM DAILY AROUND THE SAME TIME AND DOCUMENT YOUR FINDINGS! YOU MUST TREAT EACH FLAT EXACTLY THE SAME NO EXCEPTIONS, IF YOU DO NOT THEN YOU WILL A TRUE COMPARISON. NOW IN THE FUTURE WHEN THIS SUBJECT ARISES AGAIN YOU WILL ACTUALLY HAVE DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE THAT SUPPORTS YOUR FINDINGS AND YOU CAN SPEAK FROM DIRECT HANDS ON CONTROLLED COMPARISONS. To answer your question of when to go to 18/6 ???????????????? From the start. No dark cycle effects cannabis “Transpiration†Transpiration is the evaporation of water from the aerial parts of plants, especially leaves but also stems, flowers and roots. Leaf surfaces are dotted with openings called stoma that are bordered by guard cells. Collectively the structures are called stomata.[1] Leaf transpiration occurs through stomata, and can be as a necessary "cost" associated with many processes such as the opening of the pistil and allowing the diffusion of carbon dioxide gas from the air for photosynthesis. Transpiration also cools plants and enables mass flow of mineral nutrients and water from roots to shoots. Cannabis Transpires in its dark cycle Dynosow-er "It takes more then a ladder to get me down"
Thanks for the input, little hard to read with all the caps, but very informative thanks. Also - Tree I Don't think starting over is neccesary, i've had a few experienced people including yourself take a look at that old journal and a few people look at it in person who have had experience growing and they don't think they have stretched too much, as I'm 13 days in I don't wan't to restart if it can be avoided. I put some bagseedlings under the HPS there a day or 2 older then the rest and they seem to NOT be doing too great, they seem to almost be wilting but there growing, and there bagseeds...so, I don't care too much about them. Originally I wanted to get a ballast that i could run conversion bulbs on so i could have a metal halide, but I ran out of money pretty quick and this is what i'm left with so it's what im going to use. I've heard 1000 lumens a plant is plenty, and I'm not sure a T5 is considered a compact flurecent lamp, those seem to be those energy efficient looking lightbulbs, this is 2 fluro foot long tubes and i've seen people use them more for there clones ect...but for veg aswell. Now my question is do you think i should get another 80 or 90 dollar t5 fluro, or put the babies under the HPS...Which does'nt seem smart seeing how the other plants have reacted. Honestly, they look healthy under the fluro, they almost double in growth every day.